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| Africa North |
| Critics of Islands Accord Suffer Blow in Egypt Court |
| 2017-04-03 |
| [An Nahar] An Egyptian court ruled Sunday that a judicial decision to block the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... was invalid, lawyers said, in a blow for opponents of a handover. The urgent matters court in Cairo invalidated a verdict by Egypt's highest administrative court that went against the islands' transfer. Saudi Arabia has been a main financial backer of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi since the former army chief toppled his Islamist predecessor in 2013. The deal to hand over the islands, signed during an April 2016 visit by Saudi King Salman ...either the largest species of Pacific salmon or the current Sheikh of the Burnin' Sands, Cutodian of the Two Holy Mosquesand Lord of Most of the Arabians.... during which Riyadh showered Egypt with aid, provoked accusations that Cairo had "sold" the strategic islands. Cairo said the two islands -- Tiran and Sanafir -- were Saudi territory to start with, but had been leased to Egypt in the 1950s. The accord has sparked street protests and a legal battle between the government, which insists along with Sisi that the islands are Saudi, and lawyers opposed to the measure. The urgent matters court ruled "in favor of disregarding the ruling of the high administrative court," as "the judiciary doesn't have the authority to interfere with matters of illusory sovereignty," said Ashraf Farahat, the lawyer who filed the latest lawsuit. Khaled Ali, a lawyer who argued in the administrative court that the islands belonged to Egypt, said Sunday's verdict aimed to give the government "judicial cover" as it pushes to hand over the territory. |
| Posted by:Fred |